03/12/2013 -Professor Pelayo Correa (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, USA) will present the 10th Sir Richard Doll Lecture on 4 December at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The title of Professor Correa's talk is "The gastric precancerous cascade".

He will then receive the IARC Medal of Honour from the Director of the Agency, Dr Christopher P. Wild, for his career-long contribution to cancer research, in the field of gastrointestinal cancer, and particularly Helicobacter pylori.

03/12/2013 -Call for applications for a postdoctoral opportunity within the Section of Nutrition and Metabolism / Nutritional Epidemiology Group
Deadline: 31 December 2013Plus d’informations en anglais

27/11/2013 -IARC is pleased to announce the formation of the Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) Biobank and Cohort Network (BCNet).

The aim of BCNet is to provide a platform for collaboration between its partners, IARC and the international community, to support biobanking and cohort-building activities, and to develop sustainable biobanking research infrastructures to facilitate the collection of high-quality biological samples for research, using best practice principles and guidelines.Read more

25/11/2013 -The International Pooling Project of Mammographic Density will create the first standardized pooled data/imaging resource, which will include women from more than 20 countries worldwide, spanning low- to high-incidence countries. It will be used to describe and account for international variations in mammographic density and investigate to what extent they contribute to international variations in breast cancer incidence rates. After the first year of fieldwork for the study, participating studies have now been identified, and anonymized images and data are being assembled at IARC.Visit web site

25/11/2013 -We are pleased to announce that IARC Monographs Volumes 1 to 42 are now available on-line in PDF format. This huge body of work, previously available only in print, represents all evaluations made by IARC Monographs Working Groups between 1972 and 1987.Download Volumes 1 - 42

21/11/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is pleased to announce that the EpiMark project has recently been selected for funding. The research grant was submitted to the EC TRANSCAN call on "Translational research on primary and secondary prevention of cancer” (JTC 2012). The funding is part of the European Commission funding scheme ERA-NET.

EpiMark will provide insights into the role of risk factors in driving the epigenetic changes associated with breast cancer and reveal potential targets for biomarker discovery. This multidisciplinary and multicentre research project will be coordinated by IARC (PI, Zdenko Herceg) and involve seven major European cancer institutes in five countries. The project aims to provide a scientific basis for primary and secondary prevention of cancer and is due to start early in 2014.Read Abstract , Link to ERA-NETwebsite

06/11/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announces the launch of the web site for the SEMI-NUC project: “Prospective cohort study of residents living near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site – feasibility assessment”.
The two-year project is coordinated by the Section of Environment and Radiation at IARC and supported by the European Commission Euratom FP7 grant No 323310.Read more , Visit website

29/10/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is delighted to announce a Workshop on Emerging Findings in Head and Neck Cancer, which will be held in San Pietro in Bevagna, Manduria, Italy, on 2-3 June 2014. The meeting will precede the 3rd Workshop on Emerging Oncogenic Viruses that is being organised at the same location on 4-8 June, and participants may, of course, opt to attend both meetings.

This meeting will focus on HPV, genomics, and clinical advances and early detection.

24/10/2013 -In October, 2013, 24 experts from 11 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, to assess the carcinogenicity of outdoor air pollution. This assessment was the last in a series that began with specific combustion products and sources of air pollution and concluded with the complex mixture that contains all of them. The results of this most recent assessment will be published as volume 109 of the IARC Monographs.

23/10/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, and the Supreme Council of Health of Qatar convened in Doha for a three-day high-level meeting on cancer prevention.Read more , See Photo

21/10/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) today launched Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volume X (CI5-X). The new publication is available on IARC’s website (ci5.iarc.fr). CI5-X, which compiles the latest global cancer incidence rates by cancer site and geographical distribution, is a collaboration between IARC and the International Association of Cancer Registries.Read IARC Press Release 222 , Visit CI5 website

07/10/2013 -IARC introduces e-books as a new medium for the wider dissemination of the Agency’s research. IARC’s first e-book is Air Pollution and Cancer.

The IARC Monographs Programme convened a multidisciplinary Advisory Group that included epidemiologists, toxicologists, atmospheric scientists, cancer biologists, and regulators to make recommendations for the development of a series of Monographs on air pollution. Air Pollution and Cancer provides the updated state-of-the-art overviews from this Advisory Group on various topics related to the carcinogenicity of mixtures of ambient air pollution.

04/10/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is deeply saddened by the passing away of Dr John Higginson.
An internationally esteemed researcher, Dr Higginson had a special place at IARC and was highly appreciated. In July 1966, Dr Higginson was appointed the first director and he played a critical role in shaping the then-nascent Agency with his vision for inter-disciplinary research including epidemiology, biostatistics and laboratory sciences. He served as director of IARC until 1981.Read more , See Photo

30/09/2013 -A new partnership agreement has been signed between the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CIHCAMS).Read more , See Photos

The International Agency for Research on Cancer is happy to participate in this European Union initiative on cancer planning, and Dr Christopher P. Wild will be part of the leading experts who will present engaging discussions regarding two-way translational research, the benefits of genomic stratification and the economics of creating affective clinical trials for new agents.Visit website

06/09/2013 -Dr Oresto Michael Munishi, Director of the Kilimanjaro Cancer Registry, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi, United Republic of Tanzania, received the first awardee of the UICC-IARC Development Fellowship (2012).Read Testimonial

08/08/2013 -The African Breast Cancer Disparities in Outcomes (ABC-DO) study is the first multi-country sub-Saharan African study of breast cancer survival. This four-year research project, led by IARC scientists, aims to understand a woman’s entire breast cancer journey - including determinants of late stage at diagnosis, treatment access and compliance, and ultimately survival - to help prevent avoidable deaths from breast cancer in women in Africa. The study will be conducted in public hospitals in Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Namibia.More information

23/07/2013 -IARC is proud to be cooperating for the first time with OESO, the World Organization for Specialized Studies on Diseases of the Esophagus,
in the organization of the Paris Congress 2013, to be held from August 27-30, 2013 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The theme for this year is From normal mucosa to tumor, Translating knowledge into cure.

18/07/2013 -A new study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in partnership with Costa Rican investigators and the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI), shows for the first time that the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18, which is used to prevent cervical cancer, also provides strong protection against oral HPV infections, known to be associated with cancer of the oropharynx and tonsils.

15/07/2013 -Remarkable progress in the field of epigenetics represents an exciting opportunity to incorporate these new advances into carcinogen identification and safety assessment. A comprehensive search of the Monograph Volume 100 by Dr Z. Herceg and colleagues from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) revealed that epigenetics have played a modest role in evaluating human carcinogens by the IARC Monographs so far, however epigenetic and epigenomic data might play a pivotal role in the future. We also discuss the issues related to opportunities and challenges in the application of epigenetic testing in carcinogen identification and evaluation. Although the application of epigenetic assays in carcinogen evaluation is still in its infancy, important data are being generated and valuable scientific resources are being established that should catalyze future applications of epigenetic testing.

05/07/2013 -In June 2013, 23 experts from nine countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, to assess the carcinogenicity of 14 drugs and herbal products. Some agents are discussed in more detail because of data complexity or the extent of human exposure. These assessments will be published as Volume 108 of the IARC Monographs.

The application deadline has been extended to enable applications by potential participants who have difficulties in funding their participation in the course. Negotiations are currently under way with the European Commission Joint Research Centre, which hosts the secretariat of the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR). If these negotiations are successful, it will be possible to sponsor selected participants, based on a separate application for funding.Read More

20/06/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is proud to announce that former IARC staff member Dr Andrew (“Andy”) Hall was knighted in the United Kingdom, Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2013. Dr Hall, who recently retired as Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, received the knighthood for services to public health. Dr Hall, who was an IARC staff member from 1986 to 1990, is best known at IARC as the first project leader of the Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study (GHIS), and was stationed in The Gambia at that time. This innovative project, a collaboration between IARC, the Medical Research Council UK and The Gambian Government first sought to evaluate the efficacy of HBV vaccination through integration into the national Gambian Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). This study is continuing long-term to look at the impact on the incidence of liver cancer through linkage to the national cancer registry established at that time. Dr Hall has continued to be involved in this project, even after he took up a position at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and he is currently a Senior Visiting Scientist at the Agency, where he keeps a close eye on the long-term follow-up of the children he helped immunize almost three decades ago. Congratulations, Sir Andy!Read more

17/06/2013 -Antibodies to a high-risk type of human papillomavirus (HPV16) could help detect oropharyngeal cancer several years before the clinical onset of the disease, reveals a new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in cooperation with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) in an article published online today by the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

12/06/2013 -We are delighted to announce that the 1st International Workshop on “The Food Metabolome and Biomarkers for Dietary Exposure” will be held on 4–5 July 2013 at the 9th International Conference of the Metabolomics Society in Glasgow, Scotland.

21/05/2013 -A five-day course in the field of exposomics will take place in Florence from 16 to 21 June 2013. Two active members of IARC, Pietro Ferrari and Augustin Scalbert, will be joining the course faculty.Download programme , IARC Press Release 214

13/05/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announces the launch of the WHO/IARC Classification of Tumours (WHO Blue Books) web site today.

The WHO/IARC Classification of Tumours series establishes a pathological and genetic classification and grading of human tumours that is accepted and used worldwide. These authoritative, concise reference books provide an international standard for oncologists and pathologists and serve as indispensable guides for use in the design of studies monitoring response to therapy and clinical outcome. Diagnostic criteria, pathological features, and associated genetic alterations are described in a strictly disease-oriented manner. Sections on all recognized neoplasms and their variants include new International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (ICD-O) codes, epidemiology, clinical features, macroscopy, pathology, genetics, and prognosis and predictive factors.

The new dedicated web site, http://whobluebooks.iarc.fr, presents the WHO Blue Books project to the scientific community through its public interface, including objective, historical perspective, news about the project, lists of volumes in the series, and other information. In particular, grateful acknowledgement is made of the invaluable contribution of the series editors, volume editors, and contributors who volunteered their time and expertise to help prepare the current (4th) edition of the WHO/IARC Classification of Tumours.Link to WHO Blue Books web site

26/04/2013 -The Cancer and Environment Unit at Centre Léon Bérard and IARC’s Section of Environment and Radiation are conducting interdisciplinary research to investigate environmental and occupational causes of testicular germ cell tumors (with a focus on pesticides and endocrine disrupting chemicals) in case-control studies, including collection of biological specimens.

22/04/2013 -Jin Young Park, a postdoctoral fellow in the Dietary Exposure Assessment Group and the Prevention and Implementation Group at IARC, received a Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), held 6–10 April in Washington, DC.Read more , See Photos

19/04/2013 -IARC is pleased to welcome Professor Dr Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol of Thailand, who is visiting the Agency today to sign a cooperative agreement to stimulate academic interchange and foster high-quality collaborative research into the causes of human cancer.Read IARC Press Release 216

15/04/2013 -The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) are joining forces to help create a worldwide frontline biobanking network.

This 8M€ initiative, funded by the European Commission, involves 30 partners from 17 European countries and aims to stimulate scientific collaboration and enhance access to biosamples and large population cohorts.Link to BBMRI press release

09/04/2013 -At least 30% of cases of oropharyngeal cancer in Europe are human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16)-related, reports a study led by scientists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on 16 March 2013.

In the study, Dr Devasena Anantharaman and colleagues examined the association between the presence of circulating antibodies to type-specific HPV antigens and cancers of the upper aero-digestive tract. HPV16 E6 antibodies were specific to HPV16-related oropharyngeal cancers. Continuing efforts are needed to consider both HPV serology and p16 staining as biomarkers relevant to the etiology and natural history of HPV16-related oropharyngeal tumours, the study concluded.

15/03/2013 -In February 2013, 26 experts from 12 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France, to reassess the carcinogenicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs). These assessments will be published as volume 107 of the IARC Monographs.

18/02/2013 -A new Lancet Oncology Series presents the latest results and ideas from some of the world’s most eminent cancer experts from 19 countries spanning 6 continents. The Series aims to improve information availability, research, care, and education in the field of paediatric oncology and proposes a broad range of solutions for the next decade.Read more , The Lancet Oncology Series

18/02/2013 -Interview with Dr Christopher Wild, Director of IARC during his visit to the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland: We need to act now to stop cancerRead interview , See photo

14/02/2013 -As reported in JAMA this week, 1 year after treatment for Helicobacter pylori infection, recurrence occurred in 11.5% of the participants who had tested negative for H. pylori (using the UBT diagnostic procedure) after treatment.

14/02/2013 -IARC supports the campaign to raise worldwide public awareness of childhood cancer by observing International Childhood Cancer Day on 15 February. In particular, incidence, mortality, and survival data for childhood cancer produced at IARC in collaboration with population-based cancer registries around the world provide an indispensable resource for researchers and public health policy-makers.Read more

04/02/2013 -As every year on 4 February, World Cancer Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) support the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) in promoting ways to reduce the global burden of cancer.

“Did you know?” is the question posed for World Cancer Day 2013, which focuses on debunking damaging myths and misconceptions about the disease, reinforcing that there are still too many preconceived ideas about cancer that need demystifying and putting right. Prevention involves various approaches, and one aspect of this many-pronged effort, led by multiple agencies, is conveying clear messages to the public to improve general knowledge about cancer.Read more , Communique de Presse N° 215

23/01/2013 -IARC WHO Classification of Tumours, No 5
Fletcher, C. D.M., Bridge, J.A., Hogendoorn, P., Mertens, F.
This authoritative, concise reference book provides an international standard for oncologists and pathologists and will serve as an indispensable guide for use in the design of studies monitoring response to therapy and clinical outcome. Diagnostic criteria, pathological features, and associated genetic alterations are described in a strictly disease-oriented manner. Sections on all recognized neoplasms and their variants include new ICD-O codes, epidemiology, clinical features, macroscopy, pathology, genetics, and prognosis and predictive factors.Order at WHOPress

14/01/2013 -The IARC Director, Dr Christopher Wild, and the President of the National Cancer Centre of the Republic of Korea (NCC-RK), Dr Jin-Soo Lee, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 14 January 2013 in Lyon, to further strengthen relations between the two organizations and broaden the scope of joint research activities and academic interchanges.Read more , See Photo Gallery

11/01/2013 -The IARC Director, Dr Christopher Wild, and the President of the National Cancer Centre of the Republic of Korea (NCC-RK), Dr Jin-Soo Lee, will sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 14 January 2013 in Lyon, to further strengthen relations between the two organizations and broaden the scope of joint research activities and academic interchanges.Visit NCC-RK web site

This book aims to sensitize the international community to the mycotoxin problem in a format that is accessible to a wide audience and is useful to decision-makers across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including agriculture, public health, marketing, and economics.Order at WHOPress